Dressing Up
by AntiChrist18
Summary: Another young Casey/Alex oneshot! Casey wants to look more girly for the Cabot's annual family barbecue, Alex however sees right through her friend and tells her it's okay to wear what she really wants to wear. Cute friendship fluff.


_**Another young Casey/Alex fic, I have a bit of a soft spot for them now so if you have any one shot suggestions for them let me know! Enjoy ^_^**_

-x-x-x-

Casey has a problem, tonight her parents and her have been invited over to her best friend Alexs' house for the barbecue they usually hold this time of year, and ordinarily Casey loves the get together. This year though, she's dreading it.

Over the past few days at school Casey has gotten teased over her clothes. She never really took any notice of what she wore but now it's all she's thinking of. What could she wear that'd be nice enough for Alexs' family? The mean kids at school told Casey she looks like boy in her clothes.

She may not wear dresses all the time like the other girls, like Alex, but she isn't a boy and she's sick of the other kids in her grade saying she is.

Casey looks through her wardrobe, seeing nothing really accept her usual sets of jeans and tshirts.

'I'm sure I have a dress somewhere' Casey thinks as she pushes a chair over to her wardrobe, there's a higher shelf with clothes she doesn't wear all that much so maybe her Mom put her dress up there

Rifling through the clothes Casey finds the girly outfit she's looking for. Secretly she was hoping that the dress would be too small for her so she'd could say she had a reason not to wear it but her nose crinkles in distaste when she notes the dress is still big enough for her.

She jumps down off the chair, dress in hand, and after careful consideration between a pair of sneakers and some flat shoes with flowers printed on the side she picks the latter to go with her outfit. She doesn't seem to remember ever wearing the horrible shoes but there are no stickers on them so she must've had.

As she struggled to get into the dress, forgoing any unzipping of zips to make the process that little bit easier, Casey can't help but wonder what Alex will think when she sees her in a dress. Alex is the girly dress-wearer, the one who does her nails and does ballet, Casey is the one who wears jeans, bites her nails and plays softball. How they became best friends is a mystery at times.

Smoothing down the cotton white dress, splattered with pink flowers Casey sighs, maybe this will help her make friends at school? She's happy with just playing with Alex at lunch time but she would like the boys to talk to her too, saying something other than 'why aren't you dressed girly like all the others'.

She is the only girl in her grade who dresses like this, even when the other girls aren't in dresses they look nice in their skirts or even the jeans that look pretty on them. Not like Casey's who's obviously look boyish.

The eight year old once dressed and wearing her shoes goes down to reveal her outfit choice to her parents who look surprised, her mother especially who looks pleasantly so

"Oh Casey, honey, look at that dress! You look beautiful! Like a proper little girl" her mothers proud smile makes her smile too, weakly- but her fathers reply makes her beam

"Oh Anne, give the girl a break. You know she likes the jeans she wears, if she's comfortable isn't that all that matters?"

The man looks down to his daughter, then ruffles her hair "You do look pretty baby. As long as you're sure that's what you want to wear to Alex's house?"

Casey gives a nod although she's unsure. She would love to change back into her jeans but she knows her mother would be unhappy and it'd really show the kids at school she is a girl- even if none of them are there tonight, she can still say she wore the dress and not be lying.

"Let's paint your nails then!" Anne smiles brightly as she gestures for Casey to follow her down to the living room, which she does but that little bit slower than usual feeling constricted and awkward in her outfit

-x-x-x-

Alex smiles as she hears her Mother announce Casey's parents arrival! Finally her friend has gotten here! It feels like for-ever sitting waiting for the redhead, she actually wanted to walk down to the girls house but her mother insisted she stay here, that the Novaks' would be 'getting ready and wouldn't want to be disturbed'. Alex knew she was always welcome in Casey's house though, Casey's Dad always said so.

Alex hops down off the lounger in the living room and races to the hall, her new dress twirling in the wind. Her smile drops however as she sees Casey awkwardly walk in the door in her dress. The three adults go outside, leaving the girls to play and the second they're alone Alex questions Casey

"Why are you in a dress? You always tell me how much you hate them" the blonde says and Casey shrugs, trying to act casual

"I don't hate dresses" she does "I just wanted to look nice"

"But you look nice in your jeans? You look weird in a dress, and not good weird. You don't look happy in it"

Casey sighs, she doesn't look happy because she's not. She'd much rather be in her jeans "I wanted to look girly Alex"

"Did you wear that because of the boys at school? They're just stupid Casey, and yucky, I mean, you look so much nicer than they do- you definitely don't look like a boy, not like them boys anyway"

Casey smiles at her friends words "Really?"

"Yeah" Alexs' tone couldn't be more certain, "c'mon"

Alex's small hand grabs hold of Casey's and leads her up the large staircase "What're you doing?" Casey asks when the blonde doesn't offer any further explanation

"You're changing out of that dress, I have some jeans somewhere. Maybe you'd look 'comfortabler' in them"

"Is it really bad? I wanted to look pretty" Casey feels disheartened but Alex shakes her head, grabbing her jeans from her chest of drawers

"You don't look bad Casey, you're pretty but you don't look like you anymore. When you're in a dress it's so different"

Casey takes off the dress, again without unzipping it, and when her head gets stuck half way down she has to call on her best friend for help who giggles while she untangles the girl

"Thanks Alex" Casey smiles as she pulls on the jeans and then the white tshirt the girl offers "ya know, I think it'd be weird seeing you in these clothes too"

"Well I think we should all stick to wearing what we want- you shouldn't listen to them boys. On Monday why don't me and you stay in and play? Then they won't say anything to you"

"You don't care?"

"Nah, as long as we play together I don't really mind where it is- just promise you'll never wear that dress again, you should feel good, don't care about the silly boys"

Casey abandons the dress on Alex's bedroom floor and the pair race downstairs on a mission to see who can get the first hotdog off Alexander. Alex wins but Casey blames the flower printed shoes she's still wearing, claiming they're 'too girly to run in'. Alex just nods but knows she won their race, she feels so much better seeing her friend in clothes she's comfortable in.


End file.
